


Stage Presence

by Star55



Series: Ruby Verse [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Girl Direction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22122751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: Harry is on stage at work, and Louis is trying to keep their two year old daughter from wriggling out of her arms.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Series: Ruby Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650382
Comments: 4
Kudos: 85





	Stage Presence

**Author's Note:**

> *sweats in lateness* I know it's only 12.16pm, so this isn't _that_ late, but the fact that I've only just finished writing, coding, and editing this fic means it's late to me.  
> This has not been betaed by anyone other than myself, so if you find any mistakes, please, kindly, point them out. ♥

Nobody ever _really_ acknowledges just how hard it is to hold a squirming toddler who is nothing but _determined_ to wriggle out of their mum’s arms. 

Louis adjusts her hold on Ruby _again_ and bites back a sigh as Ruby squirms against her.

“Mama!” Ruby whines, tugging at her ear defenders.

“Keep these on,” Louis says, trying, one-handedly to keep Ruby from taking them off. It’s extremely noisy and she doesn’t want to cause her daughter pain.

Not thirty feet away, Harry is dancing around on stage like she’s having the best time, and she probably is, Louis thinks with a smile. She’s singing one of the most popular songs off her new album and is dancing up a storm. She doesn’t dance in any conventional sense of the word. Nope, in true Harry style, she just moves her body and shimmies around on the stage with no sense of rhythm or any care for any _actual_ dancing steps. Louis loves her for it.

“… _Watermelon sugar!_ ” Harry finishes, taking a bow. She puts her microphone back on its stand and blows kisses into the audience.

In her distraction at watching her wife perform their _sexy_ song, Louis’ grip loosened on Ruby, and before she even realises what’s happening, Ruby is running full speed towards Harry.

“Shit,” Louis hisses as she follows in Ruby’s footsteps. 

Two year olds should _not_ be _that fast_ , she thinks as she jogs across the stage where Ruby is now clinging to Harry’s leg. 

Louis can hear the ‘awww’ of the audience as Harry swings Ruby up onto her hip.

“Sorry,” Louis calls out the moment she gets close enough. “She’s squirmy tonight.”

Harry gives her a fond look before turning her attention to Ruby. Louis holds her hands out towards Ruby so she can take her back from Harry. She bites back a sigh when Ruby shakes her head and buries her face into Harry’s shoulder. 

“Everyone, this is Ruby,” Harry says, stepping up to her microphone. “Ruby, do you want to say hi?”

Louis watches as Ruby lifts her head from Harry’s shoulder and looks out for a brief moment at the arena full of people before she quickly turns back to face Harry’s shoulder. 

“Ruby, c’mon,” Louis says stepping right into Harry’s space. She hopes that her voice can’t be picked up on the microphone at all. “Come to Mama.”

“No.” Ruby’s voice is muffled but Louis can hear the word clearly.

Harry’s hand rubs gently over Ruby’s back as Louis shoots her an apologetic look.

“C’mon, angel,” Louis says softly. “Mummy has to work now. C’mon.”

“No.” 

“Sorry, H,” Louis says. “Just pass her here, I’ll put her to bed.”

Harry gives her a soft, fond smile. She steps up to the microphone again. “It’s Ruby’s bed time,” she begins, “I’m just going to go put her to bed. I’ll be back in a minute. Until then, Sarah is going to do a wicked drum solo for you.” 

She steps away from the microphone and Louis quickly follows as Harry walks off the stage. By the time they get to one of Harry’s dressing rooms, Ruby is full on crying. Louis doesn’t even have a clue as to why. She takes off Ruby’s ear defenders and grabs her favourite blanket to wrap her in.

“Shh, angel, it’s okay,” Harry says.

Louis sighs when Ruby finally lets go of Harry and turns to cling to her instead. She holds their daughter close to her chest, rubbing her hand over Ruby’s back. 

Ruby sobs into Louis’ chest, her hot tears leaking into her shirt. 

Then, Harry starts to softly sing. Ruby stills as she listens to her favourite lullaby, her body relaxing in Louis’ hold. 

By the time the song ends, Ruby’s tears have completely subsided. Harry starts the song again, and this time, Louis joins in. She presses kisses to the top of Ruby’s soft curls and keeps singing.

Thankfully, Ruby falls asleep before the song has finished. Louis almost sags with relief. She stands and puts Ruby in her portable crib, pulling her blanket up around her and tucking her favourite frog teddy under the covers, too. She makes sure that the sides are secure so she can’t fall out and then lets out a long breath.

“C’mon,” Harry whispers. Louis picks up the baby monitor as Harry shuts off the lights, leading her from the room. 

“You alright?” Harry asks when they’re in the corridor alone. 

“Yeah,” Louis replies with a nod. “She was fine one minute, and then the next… I think she might be teething again.” She rubs across her forehead with her free hand and leans heavily against the wall behind her.

“She’ll sleep now, so that’s good. You can rest, too,” Harry says. She steps closer to Louis, crowding into her space.

Louis’ hands automatically settle on Harry’s hips. She tries not to scrunch the fabric of Harry’s pink, silky shirt. Harry dips her head, their lips oh so close. Louis tilts her head up and their lips slide easily together. Her entire body relaxes at Harry’s touch. She’ll never get over how Harry can still do this to her all of these years later. 

“I love you,” Harry whispers against Louis’ lips as they part a few, long moments later.

“I love you.”

“Come sing with me?” 

“What?”

Harry pulls back properly. “Yeah, c’mon! Come sing with me?”

Louis shakes her head. “H, you’re crazy,” she says. “I am a right mess in case you hadn’t noticed? I’ve got god knows what on my shirt, I haven’t washed my hair in a week, and I’m _pretty_ sure Ruby smeared something on my back earlier.”

“And yet you’re still the most gorgeous person in existence,” Harry replies. Her eyes shine brightly, her excitement clear in them.

“…Alright,” Louis agrees. She never could deny her wife anything. And she isn’t going to start now. “What song?”

Harry beams at her and kisses Louis soundly on the lips. “What about _Little Things_?”

“Wow, you’re going _really_ old school with that suggestion,” Louis remarks. Harry shrugs her shoulders, smiling still. She takes Louis’ hand in hers and leads her into another room that has clothes in it. 

“Here, you can wear one of my shirts if you like.”

Louis kisses Harry’s cheek softly. “Alright.” She has a quick look through the racks that have Harry’s outfits lined up on them. She chooses a blue shirt – something to go with Harry’s pink, and she is quick to change. She fastens the buttons up and runs a hand through her short hair, sighing when her fingers catch a knot. 

Harry is behind her in a moment, a hairbrush in hand. She’s so gentle and Louis can’t help but close her eyes and just enjoy the moment.

“Alright, let’s go give this crowd a show.” She drops a kiss onto Louis’ shoulder and Louis looks up, catching Harry’s gaze in the mirror.

“For one night only,” Louis says, changing her voice to be far more dramatic and announcer-like. “Louis and Harry Tomlinson performing at the O2!”

Harry’s giggle vibrates down Louis’ shoulder before she pulls back. 

They leave the room holding hands and Harry is quick to get someone to give Louis a microphone and battery pack. It’s been a while since she’s been kitted up to go on stage, but it’s not unfamiliar to have someone putting their hands down the back of her shirt to feed the wires down it.

“Alright,” Harry says. “I’ll just let the band know the change and then you can come on. It’ll be a nice surprise.” She kisses Louis quickly on the lips and squeezes her hand once.

Harry walks on stage and the audience goes _wild_. Louis bounces on the balls of her feet and does some quick vocal warm ups while no one can see or hear her.

“Thanks for being so patient,” Harry begins as she takes her microphone off its holder. “Ruby is fast asleep now. Thank you all for being so lovely to her. But while I was back stage, I had an idea. And. Well.” Harry turns to face Louis and gives her a beautiful smile. 

Louis’ feet start walking towards her wife before she even registers what’s going on.

If the crowd was loud when Harry stepped back on stage, it’s _nothing_ compared to how loud it is when she walks on. It feels good. She likes knowing that she has support of Harry’s fans.

“For those that don’t know,” Harry begins, stretching her hand out to Louis, and she immediately takes it, lacing their fingers together. “Louis is my wife. We met when we auditioned for a little show called _The X Factor_ – you might have heard of it?” 

Laughter bubbles up inside of Louis when the noise from the audience rises. 

“So we thought we’d give you a treat. For one night only…” Harry pauses for dramatic effect. God, Louis loves her so much. “This is _Little Things_.”

The noise is positively deafening.

A guitar starts up. Harry doesn’t let go of Louis’ hand the entire time, singing directly to her and no one else. 

This song… Louis still gets tingles whenever she performs it. Especially when Harry changes the lyrics to ‘ _and you’re perfect to me_ ’. 

The song ends and applause fills the arena. Harry uses their joined hands to tug Louis close and she kisses her soundly on the lips.

“I love you,” Harry says with a smile.

“I love you too,” Louis replies. “And all your little things.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi again. if you've got this far, i hope you enjoyed this fic. ♥  
> please leave me a comment if you liked it. i love comments so very much a lot. ♥  
> criticism, constructive or not, is not welcome.
> 
> rebloggable post on my [tumblr](https://star55.tumblr.com/post/190069184941)


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